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Wow, this essay is like one developer's personal journey through the most discussed topics on HN: - Almost dropping out of college to pursue his passion in gam

by danso 8y ago

Wow, this essay is like one developer's personal journey through the most discussed topics on HN: - Almost dropping out of college to pursue his passion in game development - Working on his gamedev project (Civ 4: Warlords) during his boring CS courses - Getting a dream job (lead designer of Civ 5) at the very young age of 21 - Crunching to finish the game (239 days in a row with no time off) and after shipping, quitting out of burnout - Launching a Kickstarter in hopes of producing the game that's been in his mind. - Getting diagnosed with ADHD and becoming dependent on amphetamines. - Becoming isolated from all of life while working as a solo developer, and quitting all other activities, including regular exercise. - Hitting rock bottom, financially, physically, and mentally. - Finding a process for self-improvement and better health. - After years of struggle, being able to finally ship. It was great to see that this story seems to have a happy ending, but I don't know if I'd call it uplifting. But kudos to the author for his honesty, and huge congrats for being able to succeed with his project. I'm definitely interested in checking it out based on his personal testimonial (that, and I'm a huge Civ fan).

baud147258 8y ago
Didn't he worked at Paradox during solo development? I think I heard about it, with disapointed reactions from backers who realised he had stoped working on his game. Edit: I read the article: 'a big part of my ticket out of the situation was an offer to join Paradox '
GorgeRonde 8y ago
Hi, just wanted to chime in to say ADHD is totally unheard of in France and in most of europe I guess. It's totally an american thing and the more I hear about it the more I laugh. LOOK IN MY EYE LOOK IN MY EYE YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU DIE YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU DIE. NO EXCUSE FOR THIS. ^That's the kind of america I dig. Edit: same goes for exercise. Exercise is important only if you're overweight and in a culture that encourages fighting it, ie if you're american or in an american-influenced mindset/country.

by danso 8y ago

baud147258 8y ago

Didn't he worked at Paradox during solo development? I think I heard about it, with disapointed reactions from backers who realised he had stoped working on his game. Edit: I read the article: 'a big part of my ticket out of the situation was an offer to join Paradox '

GorgeRonde 8y ago

Hi, just wanted to chime in to say ADHD is totally unheard of in France and in most of europe I guess. It's totally an american thing and the more I hear about it the more I laugh. LOOK IN MY EYE LOOK IN MY EYE YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU DIE YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU DIE. NO EXCUSE FOR THIS. ^That's the kind of america I dig. Edit: same goes for exercise. Exercise is important only if you're overweight and in a culture that encourages fighting it, ie if you're american or in an american-influenced mindset/country.